Fewer Hartford area homeowners were late paying their mortgages in October, an improvement that mirrored national data, according to the latest report from CoreLogic.

In the region, about 5 percent of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days (including those in foreclosure) in October 2017 compared with 5.6 percent in the year-ago period. Only 2.1 percent of mortgages were in serious delinquency (90-plus days past due) in October, compared with 2.6 percent in the year-ago period.

The foreclosure inventory rate, which measures the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process, also dropped to 0.8 percent in October compared with 1.1 percent a year earlier.

Nationally, the delinquency rate dropped to 5.1 percent in October from 5.2 percent a year ago. The foreclosure inventory rate was 0.6 percent, a slight drop from 0.8 percent, the property analytics firm said.

The temporary rise in September's early-stage delinquencies across the U.S. reflected the impact of the hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, but that subsided in October, said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic.